Tag: jesus

In this video my mom and I talk about how we get along even though we believe completely different things as far as religion goes. We also talk about the false messages contained in the movie: God’s Not Dead.

The ethic that is commonly referred to as the Golden Rule is something that is known to many different cultures and religions. I think that, overall, the world would be a better place if the Golden Rule was followed by everyone. Sadly, not everyone is aware of this simple rule. To help with this problem, I would like to write it in my own words.

If there is something that I like others to do for me, then I do it for them. If there is something that others have done to me that I did not like, then I try to remember it to avoid making the same mistake.

It is also one that is believed by Christians to have been said by Jesus.

Matthew 7:12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them:for this is the law and the prophets.

Luke 6:31 And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.

It is a simple idea that does not require years of education to understand. It makes more sense to teach others morality by example rather than just giving them a long list of rules. It is a good idea that anyone can put into practice.

No matter what the origin of the Golden Rule is, I find it to be very relevant to everything that I write about. Is it not true that if this rule was followed by everyone, then things such as racism, sexism, and ageism would quickly become irrelevant? Is it not also true that Jesus would never have been crucified if people had thought about the fact that they would not want to be crucified?

I cannot verify whether Jesus existed or was God, but there are some useful things which the bible claims that Jesus said. Some of the best are in the book of Matthew. That book is at the beginning of the new testament, in case you can’t find it. I want you to read these verses yourself if possible.

Matthew 7:21-23: Jesus states that doing the will of his father is required to enter the kingdom of heaven. People can do good works in his name but unless it is the will of his father, they are called workers of lawlessness.

Matthew 25:34-46: Jesus clearly states that feeding the hungry, watering the thirsty, welcoming strangers, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, and visiting the prisoners, is the same as doing these things for him directly. At the same time, not doing them for others is the same as not doing it for Jesus. Those who have done these deeds for Jesus enter the kingdom prepared for them. The others, who did not, go to an eternal punishment.

Matthew 6:1-4 Jesus warns against doing good deeds only to be seen by people. Those who do so already have their reward. It is impossible to be rewarded for doing good deeds only to earn a good reputation.

These verses say a lot about the Jesus that many people believe in. If Jesus was this type of person who wanted his followers to do good things for other people, then it tells me what I should look for in those who claim to be following his teachings. It also helps me ask myself questions about my own life. What is the result of my actions? Am I doing something for the right reasons? Do I have any interest in the “kingdom of heaven”? Anything that causes people to ask honest questions or do good deeds is relevant to not only my life but everything else on the planet.

I think that Jesus is in some way relevant. I do not know exactly what the connection is. Maybe it has something to do with his unorthodox teaching and his criticism of hypocrites.

I do not want to be one of those hypocrites. I will not pretend to understand or agree with everything written in the stories of Jesus. I still am unsure of many things. I can’t help but wonder, if Jesus were here today and could write down his words in modern English, I might understand a lot of things better.

Throughout the old testament in the bible, people continually killed animals as a burnt offering or sacrifice. No explanation is given about why it was necessary. In the new testament, Jesus is crucified. Many people claim that Jesus was the final sacrifice and yet they never can explain what the sacrifice is supposed to accomplish. Jesus wasn’t a criminal so why was he executed as a criminal? What did he do to deserve this? What did all those animals do to deserve being killed? Many people say that the sacrifices needed to be made to pay the price for “sins”. I need someone to explain what the connection is, and why they can can accept the torture of the innocent.

If a law is passed which makes it illegal to kill babies, I know that it will not stop all people from doing it. If a law is passed stating that all babies must be killed, there will be people who will refuse to do it. That is one thing that I mean when I say that laws about abortion are irrelevant.

But I mean something else too. I do not look to the laws of any country to decide what is right or wrong. Humans made up all sorts of laws before I existed that I never did and never will agree with.

I also do not look to the bible as a standard of morality. If I did I would have to believe in a God who kills babies such as the child God killed in 2 Samuel chapter 12. Also, Exodus chapter 12 tells of the time when God killed the firstborn of Egypt. Life means very little to the biblical God.

I will spend my life trying to end abortion and all other forms of murder. This is not an easy task because it requires changing everything that people think about babies, pregnancy, sex, and the relevance of both human life and the life of other animals. Whether the laws of the United States or any other country change is not my concern. I obey a law higher than laws made by men or their gods that I think that the men invented.

It has been a long time since my last blog post. I have been wanting to write something but never could find the time. Between learning PostScript, helping my mom publish her poetry book, working at HyVee, and listening to The Thinking Atheist, I haven’t really been able to write much.

Part of the problem is I’m just such a perfectionist. I want to make sure I say something important that will make people think and impact their life in a positive way. The only issue is that I am not exactly what anyone would call “positive”. In fact, it is the depressing subjects that no one is willing to talk about that I find myself thinking about. However, this is what makes me different from others. I find a great joy in the subjects of geometry, arithmetic, religion, death, and sex.

It’s been a little over a year since I left the messed up church I used to go to. I have been left alone by the people who I thought were my friends. At the same time, I have had a great time working at HyVee. The employees are polite and I am always aware of what is on sale because I see people buying it.

What people would never guess is that I am constantly thinking about death. I find it ironic that people’s greatest concern in life is whether the Chiefs win a football game. Another thing is the way people talk so much about food. I like food as much as anyone but I would rather eat than talk about it. At such things I can only laugh.

When I die, it really won’t matter how many carts I bring in or how much money I make. While I work to earn the money, I also realize that it is no longer my main goal. I have become more interested in talking to the people I work with. I was never very social but after being in front of hundreds of people while working around 20 hours per week, I’m getting good at understanding them. Sure there are some things that I will never understand, but basically I now see them as being very much like me. One thing that we all have in common is that we will all die.

People avoid the subject of death. The controversy over what happens after people die is extreme. I used to read about the different theories of various religions and wonder which is true. No one has any answers to my basic questions about why people are born, then live such a short time before dying. People are afraid of the unknown, but if they avoid the subject, then I can promise it will remain unknown.

The great irony is that those most qualified to tell us the truth about death are all dead already. It’s not very often that people come back from the dead and write books explaining everything. Even if they claim to have died and have a story, I would not trust a person I don’t know. I know that most people are liars. What they say and what they do are completely different.

For me personally, I have been thinking a long time about my own death and wondering what will happen to me. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that there isn’t really much I can do about it. I didn’t choose to be born on this planet and start the life I am stuck in right now. I see no reason that I would get much choice in the next life if there is one.

You could say that I’m having a death phase right now. It started as I began questioning everything I used to think was true.

I used to believe I was a Christian, I had asked Jesus into my heart more times than I remember. I was never sure if I was believing the right way or had enough “faith”. I tried my very best to be like the other people in church who called themselves Christians but then one day it hit me that I was trying to please THEM. I was not serving God or myself. I’m too honest to play the game other people are playing. I know that I will not earn any reward by pretending I believe in their God or agree with the sick twisted things they teach about sex and money.

I am not an Atheist either though. I believe there is a creator. For lack of a better term I may still refer to it as God. I say “it” because I don’t think of God as being either male or female. I don’t even view God as being very much like a human. After all, if he is the creator of the other animals as well, then doesn’t that mean that God must also meow like a cat, bark like a dog, moo like a cow, or oink like a pig? Humans have a very unrealistic view of themselves as being superior to other animals. They even think they are superior to other humans.

If I find other people who accept me as I am and are willing to talk about anything and laugh along with me, then I will have found some true friends. If that fails, maybe I will just adopt a cat.

Some Christians seem to have misunderstood what they are supposed to be doing. They think that their job is to make a social club(church) and hang around only Christian friends. They avoid “sinners” so that they will not be corrupted or tempted to sin. However this is far from what Jesus did or told us to do.

In Matthew chapter 9, Jesus was criticized by the pharisees for eating with tax collectors and sinners.

Matthew 9:9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax booth. “Follow me,” he said to him. And he got up and followed him. 9:10 As Jesus was having a meal in Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with Jesus and his disciples. 9:11 When the Pharisees saw this they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 9:12 When Jesus heard this he said, “Those who are healthy don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do. 9:13 Go and learn what this saying means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

And Jesus told people to go out into the world and teach others about him and the things he taught.

Matthew 28:18 Then Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,28:20 teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember,I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth.”

Sadly, most people aren’t really teaching much of what Jesus taught. In fact, they are not even going to other nations. Their goal seems to be to invite people to church and then hope that somehow they’ll just magically discover that they need to be saved. It doesn’t really work because most people won’t survive the terrible worship music. Even if they did, the sermons are usually short and not filled with enough information for the average person to understand who God is and what it is they are to be saved from. Unbelievers who happen to come to a church are not taught much of anything nor do they make any true friends who will stay with them even if they decide that wasting time in a church building is not for them.

My suggestion to those in America who know very little about Christianity is to stay home and read the Bible yourself. You can learn a lot faster that way than you can listening to some preacher once a week. Now the different versions of the Bible are available not only in printed book form but also available as ebooks on all kinds of devices or even for free on many web sites for those who have internet access whether at home or maybe at a public library which also has the regular books.
A good link to start with would behttp://bible.cc/

But a word of warning, the Bible can be very dangerous. I know a preacher who said that the Bible is a love letter from God. This could really confuse people should they come across Psalms 137:9,Isaiah 13:16,Leviticus 25:44,Exodus 11:4-5,etc.

My view of the Bible is that it is like a Chinese buffet. Some things I like, some things I don’t, and most of the time, I have no clue what they are.

The old testament seems to make God sound rather cruel, but that is most likely because cruel humans were the ones who wrote it. A much better place to start would be the books of Matthew and Luke in the new testament. Matthew 5-7 and Luke 6 contain the bulk of what Jesus was teaching people. Even an atheist who doesn’t think there is a God or that Jesus ever existed may still agree with what he taught.

So right now my best suggestion is to read Matthew,Luke, and Acts. I tell people this because this is currently my own way of obeying the last instructions of Jesus. I’m still searching for the truth about God and I started this blog to help other people like me who are confused.